The Importance of Goal-Setting

Primerica’s Hector LaMarque said it best (paraphrasing):

When you go to a restaurant, do you ask for a meal? Hell No. When I go to a restaurant, I ask for a steak – medium rare, Caesar salad – light dressing, and a baked potato – all the trimmings, and a glass of Merlot – their best. That’s how I order a meal…and that’s the way that you should approach life.

Said in a different way by Dr. Robert Anthony (paraphrasing):

If you don’t create a plan for yourself, that means you’re going to be part of someone else’s plan, and chances are you’re not going to like what they have planned for you.

So how’d I do?

Goal #1: Crafting a KILLER Five-minute Set

This is what I came up with for my five-minute set. Things take a crazy turn at 5:24, but I was able to use the situation to my advantage and end off on a huge laugh.

I’m going to be rearranging some of the jokes in my Kim Kardashian routine (Mike Bent called it, ‘structuring strong tags around fragile lines’). Sometimes writing new material doesn’t involve net new material, but instead rearranging material given their impact.

Goal #1: Performing on Stage 4x Week

I didn’t do this at all. You know how many times I hit a stage?

Five. How can I call myself a stand-up comedian? That sounds more like a seated audience member that dabbles in the comedic arts.

Before you attempt to remove the piece of wood from my eye, here are the performances I did:

Hard Rock Cafe – Did very well by using manboobs and Kim Kardashian, excluding most of what was my initial five-minute set at the start of January.

How do I feel about that? I’m ok with it. That’s 2 open mics and 3 shows.

I have a strong background in public speaking and making presentations, and therefore my goals when I get on stage are different than most. I can memorize very quickly. My stage time was therefore focused on getting the nerves out and honing material, which I was able to do for the most part.

I do want to get on stage much more often, but for a completely different reason than I started out with at the beginning of the year.

Goal #2: Hosting Open Mics

I want to perform last at every open mic I go to. Why?

Because one of my goals is to become a great host. Doing five to seven minutes sets are ok, but I love coming up with improv. It’s such a rush to come up with a great joke on the fly, and the audience really appreciates good improv and crowd work.

Most importantly, my improv hits with an audience about 50 percent of the time. I want to get it to the point of Bryan O’Gorman, whose improv KILLS on the regular when he hosts.

My plan is to frequent open mics, ask to go on last, and get to the point where all of my improvisation is memorized. I’d like to be able to do a five-minute set of improvisation off th’ top of my dome.

I like the idea of hosting because I won’t have to come up with tons of material in order to do a lot of shows. I hate the idea of doing the same 5-7-10-15 minutes in front of people.

Goal #3: Continue to Blog and Write for others

I’ve become the Head Writer for a TV show and my guest posts for myseocommunity.com and Quora answers have kept a steady stream of traffic into this blog.

So yeah, that went well. I’ll tell you guys more about the show in the week’s to come.

Goal #4: Getting My Fat Arse In Shape

Benefits of P90X for 20 Mins 3x per week

Dr. Robert Anthony said, ‘Your number one responsibility is your own mental and physical well-being.’

I’ve started to do 20 minutes of exercise and 20-40 minutes of meditation every morning before I engage in anything creative, and that’s revolutionized my life.

How I Landed a TV Show / Performance at Hard Rock

I used meditation based on the teachings of Dr. Robert Anthony, Eckhart Tolle, and Rodney Stephens.

I believe that there is a Universal Creative Mind, or whatever label you want to give it, that we can tap into in order to create anything that we want in.

I believe that life supports me. Said another way, there is nothing that I don’t have that I haven’t kept from myself. Get Dr. Robert Anthony’s concise Beyond Positive Thinking; I guarantee it will change the way you look at yourself and your place in the universe.

Revised Q2 2012 Goals

Here are my revised goals for end of Q2 2012 unless specified otherwise:

Win every Canadian comedy competition in 2012

Become a great host

Weigh 190

Have the number show on the network by the third episode

Perform on every major stage in Toronto (Absolute, Yuk’s, AltDot, Unlovable, and Laugh Sabbath at the Comedy Bar)

Q2 Initiatives Underway

Here’s what Q2 2012 holds for me, thus far:

I’m going to win Ian Atlas’ Comedy Brawl in the weeks to come.

Quinn C. Martin liked my performance I did at his show at the Hard Rock, and asked me to come back again on his show on April 5 2012.

I need to write/produce 5-8 television shows in the next 3-4 weeks.

Even America believes in anatta (no-self):

Michael Jagdeo

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About Michael Jagdeo

My name's Michael Jagdeo, and I refuse to write about myself in the third person. I'm a Comedian from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In addition to honing my stand-up comedy act, I maintain this blog and write the weekly comedy article for blogTO.com.